Stravinski: The Rake's Progress, Theater an der Wien

Very pleasing was Nick Shadow (the Devil) played by the characterful and sonorous bass Alastair Miles who portrayed him as a modern financial consultant waiting till the last moment to reveal his diabolic intentions.

Die Presse

The latter virtue [excellent diction] was shared with his alter ego, Alastair Miles, a very plausible tempter, not too demonic until their last scene together - one of the best things I have seen from him.

Opera

2008

Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, New York (Tilson Thomas)

Best of the lot was bass Alastair Miles

New York Sun

2008

CD: La Cour de Celimene

Miles is a bubbling comic delight with a strong, enchantingly merry delivery

American Record Guide

Alastair Miles negotiates the coloratura with his customary aplomb

Fanfare

Alastair Miles is also at his best as Le Commandeur de Beaupré an attractive comic creation that nearly steals the show.

musicalcriticism.com

Alastair Miles impresses as the affably cynical Commander, more excited by property than love.

The Daily Telegraph

... it also features a sparkling score and is very ably performed by soprano Laura Claycomb and bass Alastair Miles in particular. Frothy fun. Alastair Miles enjoys himself in his role of worldly aristocrat with the attributes of a virtuoso and a buffo bass. EDITOR'S CHOICE.

The Gramophone

2007

Damnation de Faust, Welsh National Opera

Dominant throughout with sheer presence is Alastair Miles, his measured, powerfully voiced Mephistopheles sinister rather than flamboyantly diabolic, the very embodiment of evil.

Das Opernglass

Opera

2006

Sir John In Love, English National Opera

The Stage

Miles suggests Ford’s volcanic jealousy in a brilliantly underplayed, funny and touching account of the role.

Hugh Canning, The Sunday Times

2006

La Juive, Royal Opera House

Alastair Miles gave the performance of his life as Cardinal Brogni.

Evening Standard

As Eleazar’s great rival Cardinal Brogni, Alastair Miles?authority was self-evident with chills and compassion exacted from his charismatic bottom notes.

The Independent

This bravura part [Brogni] was extravagantly sung by Alastair Miles who exhibited splendid low notes, so cavernous that I expected him to emerge after the interval in pot-holing garb!

musicwebinternational.com

2006

Messiah, London Symphony Orchestra

Far more successful was bass Alastair Miles, who gave probably the best performance I've ever heard from him. To achieve such steady tone, fluid legato and powerful projection through arias such as The Trumpet Shall Sound and Why Do The Nations? is quite something for any artist. It was a shame that we didn't hear more from him.

Suddeutsche Zeitung

Alastair Miles makes much of the sonorous, scheming Zoroastro.

Financial Times

2006

CD: Nabucco, Opera North, Chandos

Alastair Miles proves his pre-eminence among British basses today in Verdi: every note of his two solos is sung with strength and a feeling for line, and he is as happy on high as below. DISC OF THE MONTH.

The Gramophone

2005

Dom Sebastien, Roi de Portugal, Royal Opera House

Alastair Miles, as Dom Juan, was a chilling Grand Inquisitor.

The Times

Alastair Miles knows how to sing the bass roles of early nineteenth century Italian and French opera like nobody else these days, and his faultless sense of style was very much in evidence.

mundoclasico.com

2005

Nabucco, Opera North

Alastair Miles, hotfoot from singing the chief schemer in Covent Garden’s Dom Sebastien, produced a wealth of dazzling virtuosity as High Priest Zaccaria, the voice admirably supported and effortlessly secure.

The Independent

2004

Ernani, English National Opera

Alastair Miles, done up to look like a darkly malevolent Don Quixote, is a splendid Silva, ferocious in attack, chillingly unforgiving, and more incisive with the text than anyone.

Edward Seckerson, The Independent

The bass Alastair Miles makes a magnificent Silva, with effortless smoothness of line and firmness of tone, as well as an impressive stage presence.

Rupert Christiansen, The Daily Telegraph

Alastair Miles fulfils his role's dramatic potential as a deliciously villainous Silva.

The Guardian

2004

Damnation de Faust, London Philharmonic Orchestra

....Alastair Miles’s superb Mephistopheles, mocking and menacing through every vowel.

The Times

The Guardian

2003

CD: Zaira, Opera Rara

Outstanding among the singers is Alastair Miles in the role of the enlightened Muslim king [Orosmane] in love with Zaira. The writing is for a high lyric bass with the skills of a thorough virtuoso. Miles is exemplary in the evenness and fluency of his scales and gruppetti, and the tessitura suits him admirably.

The Gramophone

Alastair Miles is outstanding in the role of Orosmane, Sultan of Jerusalem.

The Observer

Alastair Miles delivers impeccable singing.

BBC Music

As Orosmane, the opera’s most sympathetic character, Alastair Miles sings with tonal excellence and the requisite agility for a role created by Antonio Tamburini.

Opera

... Orosmane’s aria in which florid twists and turns are encountered in phrase after phrase, though Alastair Miles, in splendid voice, is in no way fazed. His well-supported tone and clean articulation of notes allow him to realise everyvocal ornament with which Orosmane’s music confronts him. His fleet negotiation of the cabaletta tempted me to repeat it immediately. I succumbed.

International Record Review

2003

Damnation de Faust, London Symphony Orchestra

Alastair Miles' Mephistopheles matched the orchestra's dramatic sensitivity, and he relished every detail of the supernatural effects Berlioz invents for his character. He jumped up from his seat for his opening lines, just as theorchestra created a malevolent explosion of rasping trombone lines and weird string sounds. And he captured the irony at the heart of the character.

The Guardian

Alastair Miles' Mephistopheles was superbly sung and characterised, the devilry not overdone and all the more sinister, while the sardonic mockery was suitably chilling.

The Sunday Telegraph

2003

La Sonnambula, Royal Opera House

Alastair Miles as the Count [Rodolfo] sounds deliciously mellifluous.

Evening Standard

Alastair Miles, crisp of tone and suave of manner, is equally well cast as the Count.

Financial Times

The Stage

The most stylish singer on stage was Alastair Miles as Count Rodolfo, very bel canto indeed.

The Times

Alastair Miles' noble bass and striking stage presence made more than acomprimario of the shadowy Count Rodolfo.

The Sunday Times

2002

Elijah, BBC Proms, London Philharmonic Orchestra / Masur

Masur missed nothing, and he had a trump in Alastair Miles Elijah: commandingly forceful and dramatic in crunching diction, well-tuned and well up to his tricky florid passages.

Financial Times

Alastair Miles isn’t the barnstorming Elijah that Bryn Terfel gave us a few years back, but a burnished, cultured presence at the centre of the work. Miles gave him nobility and strength, particularly in his great resigned recitative It is enough, accompanied by a cello tune of simmering romanticism.

The Times

The drama was there both in Alastair Miles singing of the title role, firm-toned with a real unswerving authoritative edge to his voice, and in the urgent choruses.

The Guardian

2001

Nabucco, English National Opera

The Guardian

Alastair Miles' Zaccaria is a class act of international standard, quite wonderful singing.

The Times

The great bass role of Zaccaria, the Hebrew high priest, is sung with astonishing fervour and brilliance by Alastair Miles.

The Evening Standard

2000

CD: Alastair Miles Great Operatic Arias, Chandos

This is a splendid showcase for the appreciable talents of Alastair Miles, one of the best basses ever produced in this country.

Opera

The sound is well formed and beautifully placed. And everything here is sung with polish and intelligence... sometimes brilliance.

American Record Guide

1998

Don Carlos, Opera North

Alastair Miles is hardly new, but his first King Philip was simply sensational. His sense of Verdian legato is the real thing - he never seems to take a breath... and his bass tone is contained, darksome, perfectly focussed. His portrayal of this introverted autocrat, crippled by isolation and emotional impotence is already profoundly stirring. What it will be like in ten years time, heaven alone knows.